Boris Kodjoe

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Boris Kodjoe

Kodjoe in 2011
Born Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe
(1973-03-08) 8 March 1973
Vienna, Austria
Occupation Actor, Former fashion model
Years active 1998–present
Height 1.93m (6'4")
Spouse(s) Nicole Ari Parker (m. 2005)
Children 2

Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe[1] (/ˈkoʊdʒʊ/; born 8 March 1973), better known as Boris Kodjoe, is an actor. Born in Austria, he works primarily in the United States. He is perhaps best known for his role as courier-turned-sports agent Damon Carter on the Showtime television drama series Soul Food and for his role as David Taylor in the film The Gospel. Additionally, he starred as Steven Bloom in the cancelled 2010 NBC action/drama series Undercovers, and as Luther West in the films Resident Evil: Afterlife and Resident Evil: Retribution.

Early life

Kodjoe was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Ursula, a German psychologist of partially Jewish descent, and Eric Kodjoe, a Ghanaian physician who is of the Nzema people.[1] His namesake is the Russian poet and writer Boris Pasternak.[2] Kodjoe's maternal great-grandmother was Jewish and died in the Holocaust; his maternal grandmother survived the war in hiding.[1][3]

Kodjoe's parents divorced when he was six years old.[4] He grew up in the vicinity of Freiburg im Breisgau.

Career

Kodjoe attended Virginia Commonwealth University on a tennis scholarship, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1996.[5] A four-year letterman on the Rams' men's tennis team, he is currently ninth in school history with 75 career singles wins. Tied for third in doubles victories with 66, he was paired with Jonas Elmblad on 37 of them, also third all-time.[6] His brother Patrick Kodjoe played for VCU's basketball team. A back injury ended Boris' tennis aspirations, but he was quickly signed as a model and soon after entered acting.[7]

Named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People magazine in 2002, Kodjoe is perhaps best known as one of the seven regular cast members from the Showtime drama Soul Food, which aired from 2000 to 2004. He appeared in the 2002 film Brown Sugar and starred in the short-lived sitcom Second Time Around with his Soul Food co-star Nicole Ari Parker, whom he eventually married. He played the role of David Taylor, the wayward son of Pastor Fred Taylor in the October 2005 film The Gospel. He performed in a play called Whatever She Wants starring Vivica A. Fox and made an appearance on the fifth season of Nip/Tuck. His most recent role was in the 2009 science fiction film Surrogates. On December 16, 2009, it was announced that Kodjoe had been cast as the male lead, Steven Bloom, in the new J. J. Abrams television series Undercovers; the show premiered in September and was subsequently cancelled in November 2010 on NBC. Also that year, he appeared as Luther in the film Resident Evil: Afterlife. He now appears on BET's comedy parody, Real Husbands of Hollywood. He makes an appearance in Season 2 of Franklin and Bash (episode 8 - Last Dance).

Personal life

Kodjoe is fluent in French, English, and German, and speaks some Spanish. He has a brother named Patrick and a sister named Nadja.

Kodjoe married his Soul Food: The Series co-star Nicole Ari Parker on May 21, 2005 in Gundelfingen, Germany. She gave birth to their first child, a girl, Sophie Tei-Naaki Lee Kodjoe, on March 5, 2005. Sophie has spina bifida, which was diagnosed at birth.[8] Parker gave birth to the couple's second child, a boy, Nicolas Neruda Kodjoe, on October 31, 2006. Kodjoe and his wife are members of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.[9] The family resides in Atlanta, after moving from Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Kodjoe in December 2010

Guest appearances on TV shows

Music videos

In TLC's, Red Light Special Kodjoe portrays one of the men playing poker and one of the male prostitutes. He was also in Faith Evans's Never Let Go.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Williams, Kam (2009). "Boris Kodjoe: The All about Us Interview with Kam Williams". aalbc.com. Retrieved 2010-09-24. 
  2. ↑ Buckley, Michael. "STAGE TO SCREENS: Chats With Whitford, Hurt, Howard, and Kodjoe", Playbill, 5 May 2008.
  3. ↑ The Gospel: Boris Kodjoe
  4. ↑ Boris Kodjoe at superiorpics.com
  5. ↑ "Kodjoe's Time Has Finally Come," Virginia Commonwealth University Athletics, Wednesday, June 16, 2010.
  6. ↑ The Tradition of VCU Men's Tennis (Virginia Commonwealth University men's tennis media guide).
  7. ↑ Boris Kodjoe (profile) – Classic TV & Movie Hits.
  8. ↑ Boris and Nicole Open Up About Sophie's Spina Bifida, Celebrity Baby Blog, 15 January 2009.
  9. ↑ Rhone, Nedra; and Gracie Bonds Staples. "In Atlanta’s churches, prayers for president-elect", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9 November 2008.

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